May the Lord keep you in
His hand
And never close His fist too
tight on you.

May you live to be
a hundred years
With one extra year
to repent.

May the grass grow long
On the road to Hell
For want of use.

May you have warm words
on a cold evening,
a full moon on a dark
night,
And the road downhill all
the way to your door.

Why post once a day, when you can post four times?

“There is only one true happiness in life: to love and be loved.”

— George Sand

Funny, since there’s no snow, that we should have a two-hour late school opening today. And no morning pre-k for Wacky Boy. There is the teensiest bit of snow — a dusting on the cars, a few flakes (that are already melting) on the lawns. Go talk to PPS about this one, would you?

I’m a slacker, in general. And a stay-at-home mom, to boot. So I don’t mind a mellow schedule. But my kids are hardly ever in school.

“Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?”
— George W. Bush

Ed. to say: 1 p.m. no snow at all. In fact, we didn’t have any “real snow” over here at all — just gray skies, clear skies, sun and a little bit of a breeze. This being Oregon. I took FOUR BOXES OF STUFF to Goodwill and left a ton of recycling by the curb. We’ve also packed a dozen boxes of stuff we can live without to go into the attic. Less clutter = less crazy. Who the hell knew? (My husband. He’s been begging me for years to get rid of some of my junk. Probably one-third or less is his — the kids and I can claim two-thirds, or possibly more…) Anyone who walks into or near my home is getting a door prize — maybe a plant. Maybe a book. Maybe some recycling, because ALL OF THIS IS NOT GOING TO FIT INTO THE BINS.

I even itemized the Goodwill drop for the tax receipt. (You have to do this to figure out how much you can write off — go here for details.) Plus, the nice man who took the donation (all of it, even the ripped flannel shirts and college textbooks) gave me a dozen boxes when I told him we were moving. I’m getting lots of tips on moving from Iowa Drift — they’re relocating from Iowa to Massachusetts. She writes one of my favorite blogs — I love her style.

Yours in order and precision,

WM

“I do not want the peace which passeth understanding, I want the understanding which bringeth peace.”

— Helen Keller

“There are three things in life that are fun to watch: a rippling stream, a fire in the fireplace and a Zamboni going around and around.”

— Charlie Brown

“This is my living faith, an active faith, a faith of verbs: to question, explore, experiment, experience, walk, run, dance, play, eat, love, learn, dare, taste, touch, smell, listen, argue, speak, write, read, draw, provoke, emote, scream, sin, repent, cry, kneel, pray, bow, rise, stand, look, laugh, cajole, create, confront, confound, walk back, walk forward, circle, hide, and seek. To seek: to embrace the questions, be wary of answers.”

— Terry Tempest Williams, naturalist and author (1955- )

For this week’s Thursday Thirteen — just when you needed them…

THIRTEEN TIMELY QUOTES

13. “The giraffe you thought you offended last week is willing to be nuzzled today.” — anon.

12. “I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven’t got the guts to bite people themselves.” — August Strindberg

11. “Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra, which suddenly flips over, pinning you underneath. At night the ice weasels come.” — Matt Groening, “Love is Hell”

(more…)

“His name is not Jethro. Or Ro-Ro. You cannot start calling him that.”
— Wacky Boy, when he hears my plan to rename Wacky Dog. (Here are pix of Wacky Dog with my sister’s crazy dog. And did you see this fat lab? Oh. My. Gaaaaaaaaaawd.)

Wacky Girl: “We already washed our hands. Upstairs.”
Wacky Girl’s friend, flatly: “No we didn’t.”

Wacky Girl: “I didn’t throw the ball — he did.”
Wacky Boy, agitated: “No I did not!”

— Wacky Girl discovers the joy of lying

“You read ahead in The Borrowers Afield, but not The Babysitters’ Club? No fair.”
— Hockey God to the kids, at bedtime

Hockey God: “Remember how you said you’d put the kids to bed at least once a week? How about you do that?”
Me: “I did. On Wednesday. So you could go to the hockey game, bozo.”
Hockey God: “Bozo. That’s nice.”

“Uh-huh. First I need some Tylenol.” (leaves the room)
— my Mom, when I ask her to read a post on my blog

“What I need, and it is not a hug, is help on this puzzle.”
— Wacky Boy

“Don’t lick that!”
— Hockey God, yelling at one of the kids

“The bitch you know is always better than the bitch you don’t.”
— Wacky Mommy

Because sometimes, a quote is the best I can do.

“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”
— Anon

“The butterfly counts not years but moments and has time enough.”

— Rabindranath Tagore, poet, philosopher, author, songwriter, painter, educator, composer, Nobel laureate (1861-1941)